1. Scanning and Digitization
Basic Procedures to Ensure a Successful Project

2. Reasons to Scan Records
Enhancement of access
Making public records more widely accessible
Extending the availability of material in support of educational and outreach projects
To facilitate new forms of access and use
The main purpose in this case is to enable the use of material (original manuscripts and archives, maps, museum artifacts, rare books etc.)
Preservation
To satisfy both users of today and future potential users, and must therefore both be of high quality and possess a physical stability that can be maintained over time.
Digitization for preservation is used in specific instances: if the original document is too fragile for handling, or if materials are heavily used, we digitize for preservation. Approximately 85-90% of the time, digitization is for access.

5. Scanner Selection
Table top (aka) Sheet fed scanner is acceptable for 8.5”x11” paper records—Scan setting dpi
Flatbed Scanners—allows you to scan large items such as books; Ok for scanning the newspaper article, book chapter, or photograph
Photo/Film Scanners—include specialized technology so that they can deal with slides and negatives; they also have built- in software to clean up old photos--has direct control over certain aspects, such as cropping, ratio of original image on the film, etc.
Digital Cameras
Scanning Devices
Flatbed
Sheet fed
Drum
Slide Scanners
Microfilm Scanners
Robotic Book Scanners
Planetary Scanners

6. Scanners

7. Preparing the Scanner
Clean dirt, smudges and other particles from the documents
Remove paperclips, staples, rubber bands, butterfly-clips, etc.
Make sure that the scanner is free of dirt or debris
Read your scanner manual for additional information on scanner usage
Make sure your scanner is plugged in and connected to computer

8. Scanner Settings
Bitonal: simple two-tone black and white scans, suitable for typewritten and printed text documents. Handwritten letters may be scanned in bitonal if you like the results.
Grayscale: a palette of up to 256 gray tones is best for black & white photographs; may also work best for music and handwriting: details may display better than in bitonal scans.
Color: a palette of 256 to thousands of color tones is used for photographs and documents where color is important, such as maps, diagrams and illustrations. To capture the natural appearance of an item, color scans may be best.

9. Monitor Calibration
Monitors should be calibrated as visual calibration is not adequate for professional image editing.
Gamma — 1.8 to 2.2 (or L*).
White point — 5000K to 6500K.
Brightness levels — 80cd/m² to 140 cd/m2
A daylight (5000K/D50) light source at correct brightness is necessary to visually match monitor to print. Because the way you see color depends greatly on light. ISO 3664 is the international color viewing standard for the graphic technology and photography industries.

10. Scanning Guidelines
Describe resolution of digital images either by pixel dimensions (width x height) for screen use or by physical size and resolution for print use.
Inkjet prints: 180 to 360 pixels per inch (ppi)
Continuous-tone printing: 240 to 400 ppi.
Offset printing: 300 ppi is often specified
Newspapers usually print with 85 to 100 line screens, requiring – at most – images at 170 to 200 ppi.
Note: Images can respond to compression in different ways. Particular kinds of visual characteristics like subtle tonal variations may produce unintended visual effects.

11. Master Image File Attributes
The primary objective is to produce digital images that look like the original records (textual, photograph, map, plan, etc.) and are a “reasonable reproduction” without enhancement.
Master files document the image at the time of scanning, not what it may once have looked like if restored to its original condition.
Digitization should be done in a “use-neutral” manner, not for a specific output.

12. Master Image File Attributes Cont.
The physical condition of the source documents can affect the conversion in different ways. Fading text, bleed-through of ink, burned pages and other kinds of damage sometimes destroy the content but more often set physical limitations on the possibilities of catching information during a scan.
The need for pre-scanning treatment of the source documents has to be identified. Neglecting this can not only be a threat to the documents themselves but can also limit the benefits and results of digitization and increase the cost.

13. Recommendations for Conversion
Use scanners that can accommodate:
Physical dimensions of the source documents
Type of media involved (transparent or reflective)
Range of details, tones and colors present in the documents
The physical condition of the documents
Examine carefully any requirements for special handling or conservation of the source documents prior to scanning
Choose a resolution that will be sufficient to capture the finest significant details required in the group of source documents that is to be scanned.

14. Recommendations Cont.
Choose a bit depth that is in accordance with the characteristics of the source documents, and of a level necessary to transfer the informational content:
Bitonal scanning for textual documents consisting of a black image on white paper
Greyscale (8 bits) scanning for documents containing significant greyscale information (including pencil annotations on text) and for photographic materials
Color scanning for documents containing color information, especially when high quality copies are required
Testing of access files to find a balance between an acceptable visual quality for the user and a file size that the computer can access with an acceptable delay
Verify the consistency of output by individual human operators during the scanning process
Grayscale images are 8-bit images, with 256 levels of gray. Color images scanned with a 24-bit scanner will have nearly 17 million colors; 36-bit scanners give you more than 68 billion colors.

15. Quality Control Sample at least 10% of your project
A quality control program covers the master files that are produced and in most cases will also cover other outputs such as access files, and paper copies
View scanned images at 1:1 (100% enlargement)
Printout evaluations are examined by human eye to see if they fit the quality requirements
Compare the printouts with the source documents
Count the pages and watch out for double-sided documents

16. Quality Control Cont.
The main challenge in digitization of colored source documents is to reproduce them with maintained color representation on screen or on printouts.
For the web, use JPEG; for printing, uncompressed TIFF is often preferred, although high-quality JPEGs (compression level 10 or 12) can be visually indistinguishable from TIFFs, and some printers prefer their smaller file sizes.
Artifacts can have an impact on the quality of an image.
Examples are: dust, scratches, and streaks. They all create a visible non-random fluctuation in light intensity, but how this affects the image quality differs depending on the out-put requirements.
In most cases it is enough to use existing software to detect artifacts, but sometimes visual examination is needed.
CMYK model is based on cyan, magenta, yellow, and black

17. Managing the Collection
The ability to use a collection of digital images in the way it was intended depends not only on conversion standards and quality controls, but also on how it is managed.
Plans must be made to:
Create scanned images appropriate to the ultimate intended use
Upgrade distribution of images and user interface functionality
Transfer images to new IT platforms to meet increasing capacity for processing and handling of information
Migrate digital images to new file formats or physical media to ensure long-term accessibility

18. Organizing Images
Normally, the source documents being scanned are physically organized according to principles of archival/library or records management arrangement
Holdings of documents are often divided into series, volumes and issues, and collections of manuscripts and photographic items have numbers
Example: Academic Course Management—Liberal Arts— History Department—Curriculum Development Records— 2018

19. Organizing Images Cont.
It is important to ensure the compatibility of file naming structures between different technical platforms
Organize the scanned image files into a hierarchy that logically maps to the physical organization of the documents
It must also be possible for the collection of image files to grow, and the way of organizing them has therefore to be scalable.

20. Naming of Images The two most common approaches to naming images are:
Use a numbering scheme that reflects numbers already used in an existing cataloging system
Use logical, meaningful file names
Every digital imaging project needs to adopt naming conventions, and for rules relating for example to punctuation, the use of capital letters, and date/time
It is important that these conversions are uniform (cars … automobiles, autos, vehicles → cars)
A standardized vocabulary is one of the corner stones in managing a collection of digital images.

21. File Naming Always use lowercase letters
Do not leave spaces between letters and numbers
Always use the “underscore” instead of the “hyphen”
Example:
isu_mc001_27_16_24
WHY? File naming, if done incorrectly, can cause a file to break down, and we risk losing that information

22. Description of Images-METADATA
Used to describe digital that is structured data about data (Who, What, When)
Title, creator, type of document (Word, PDF, etc.), subject, description, publisher, contributor, date created, identifier, source, coverage, copyrights
Metadata can also be defined as data that facilitates the management and use of other data (images).
Commonly used metadata vocabulary properties as per Dublin Core Metadata Initiative

23. METADATA Cont. METADATA must be included in all image types including:
Word Documents
PDF files
Spreadsheets
Images—EXIF, IPTC, IPTC Core Schema and PLUS are the current standards for embedding metadata in image files. Embedded metadata should include creator and copyright information, as well as searchable keywords and license information..
REMEMBER to Look in the “Properties” of a document

24. Digital Image METADATA
A variety of programs can read and write digital image metadata
Microsoft Expression Media (iView Media Pro)
Photo Mechanic and Image Ingester can add metadata as files and transfer from camera card to computer
Image editing programs (such as Adobe Photoshop), Image browsers, (such as Adobe Bridge), cataloging programs (such as Expression Media/iView, Extensis Portfolio and Canto Cumulus), and all-in-one programs (such as Adobe Lightroom and Apple’s Aperture) can read, write and edit metadata.

25. Legal Considerations
When starting a digitization project an organization needs to be aware at the outset that they must investigate the copyright situation involved for each item that they intend to scan—contact General Counsel if you have any questions
What is the legal position affecting access by users to the images that will be created by the project?
Consider the issues involved in ensuring the authenticity of the digital images created if they are to serve as surrogates for the original source materials

26. Authenticity
Defined as a document or an image is what it purports to be, free from manipulation or corruption
If digital images are accepted as replacements for source documents and are intended to serve that purpose, it must be guaranteed before conversion that:
The source documents have no intrinsic value
The informational content (and if needed the physical appearance) of the documents has been adequately captured
The legal requirements are met
The means for retrieving and preserving the images are in place.

27. Recommendations
When needed, investigate the legal position in relation to making digital copies of the relevant source materials as the very first stage of the digital imaging project
Take steps to prevent unauthorized changes in the digital files created during the project.
Put in place clear guidance on access to and use of images within the completed digital project, including, if appropriate, provision of copyright disclaimer forms

28. Ready To Start Your Scanning Project ?
Need Assistance?
Contact the University Records Manager, Monte G or, you may contact the University Archivist, Ellen
Helpful publications:
collections-and-holdings-in-the-public-domain